Bokhiria was booked in connection with the murder of businessman Mulubhai Modhvadiya in Porbandar in 2005.

The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared a senior Gujarat minister of the charge of murder, and then applauded the progress of trials in the 2002 riots cases.

A bench led by Justice C K Prasad exonerated Gujarat Water Resources Minister Babulal Bokhiria in a nine-year-old murder case, and quashed summons issued to Bokhiria by a trial court in Porbandar.

“It is evident that no evidence has at all come during the trial which shows even a prima facie complicity of the appellant (Bokhiria) in the crime. In that view of the matter, the order passed by the trial court summoning the appellant, as affirmed by the high court, cannot be allowed to stand,” the bench said.

Bokhiria was booked for the murder of businessman Mulubhai Modhvadiya in Porbandar in November 2005. Later in the day, another bench led by Justice H L Dattu praised the pace of trials in riots cases. After perusing the February 24 SIT report, the court said: “A lot of progress has been achieved. The report says out of nine cases, investigation in six cases is over, resulting in conviction. And the rest of the three cases are in the advanced stages.”